A Piece of Me
by christina m solomon
Summary: I have to ask you a question. It's a good one so think about it. If two people love each other, but they just can't seem to get it together, when do you get to that point of enough is enough? Never.


_Frankly my dear I don't give a damn."_

His words the final cut in her heart.

Pride her downfall, and yet. She knew not of what she would do.

Every word he had ever spoken to her had been brutal truth. And every word had been her lie. What she had hid behind. Emotionally and physically, distance. Because of the blond haired man who thought she thought was everything. And in the last hours of her desperation, she realized meant nothing. To the man with the dark eyes and sardonic gleam that made her feel safe for the first time since the stench of death and war had invaded her soul.

He had wanted her.

Of all her confidence she could never understand why he would have wanted her instead of anybody else.

His words now.

He would never come back. His eyes showed nothing. The twitching minutely of facial muscles singing in harmony to his words.

But she would figure out a way. She had to.

They were formed. A forging partnership. And they were as he said, oh so very alike.

They fit.

She needed him to see that. She sat in bed nursing her glass of water. Far from scotch, and nothing like brandy. But clear in her mind. And her heart for once open to the honesty that befell her.

The broken, shattered heart that lay contained in the prison she had created for herself, he had.

He had penetrated her defenses without her knowledge or acceptance.

But now her ice filled castle, with nothing but memories of tears and the calling of Bonnie to her father. She was empty.

She was a brat. Stupid and small minded. Something she had never allowed herself to be in business. Otherwise she would have lost. She would have gone hungry. But in her personal life, she would admit, if only to herself.

_Stupid fool._

She had always picked a fight with him. Always set and secure that she could keep him away. And now with nothing, she realized just how wrong she was.

And that day at Twelve Oaks, seemed so very long ago now.

But he was not without his faults and follies either. A time ago she would have exploited them. Used and bended them to see if his iron will would break in comparison to hers.

Now she was nothing.

They should be together.

They had to be.

Love in her breast for only for him.

And the memories of her loved ones.

She saw nothing without him.

The horrific sick feeling that made her want to fall apart, even in front of her enemies. Which is why she remained in seclusion as opposed to the woman who wagered guesses on how long it would take for her to beg upon Ashley's door.

It was ridiculous now. She saw that.

Days turned into weeks. Weeks of missing him. Crying for Melly. And not setting a foot outside of her door.

She couldn't let him go. She wouldn't.

She waited for his sending for his things. For eight weeks such word never came. Not even one of his man servants came.

They belonged together. Her eyes fire filled, her white face pale and sickly, as well as the paradox of open and puffy. Mammys eyes followed her in a concern she could not remember seeing before. A concern born out of love and sadness at the cruelty of the inflicts of this world.

She walked around her shallow castle, many nights alternating between curled up asleep on the nursery floor that belonged to her precious daughter.

And some hours sinking into the covers that smelled of spice, cigars and unmistakably him. Her mothers face floated to her many nights. Restless nightmares and cold seeping into her veins.

The letter fell from his fingertips. Admonition, precise words. Calm and cool. Purposeful. Understanding, and love. Love for the girl she had helped raise since her birth.

How Mammy had found him, he had no clue. He tossed a tumbler of brandy back and accepted the burning into his throat in one shot. As he tossed the letter aside in abject fear of the woman who had battered him. And fear that Mammy was right. He had left six months ago. And heard nothing from his friends in Atlanta. Scarlett had not even seen Ashley aside from the funeral and she had not been seen cavorting.

Seclusion. Sickness. Wandering the house and sleeping on the floor in his baby blues room. Bonnie's scent suffused in that room.

_Please Mister Rhett. I am afraid for her. And she loves you so. _How could Mammy have known those words that fell from Mellys lips. Scarlett had spoken very little.

Childish, insipid brat. Brave, strong and very afraid. The most scared person he had ever known. He paused in his pacing movements. Known not knew. Not past. She was still very much in his presence. Despite the time that had gone by.

He watched the flames burning in the fire. Her saw her fire and raven hair. The screaming of her nightmares. Like daggers to his heart.

Damn the child to hell! He watched the glass shatter against the wall.

He still missed her.

He told himself that it would be purely for business when he purchased a ticket, for his return to Atlanta.


End file.
